Self-user shadowing effects of millimeter-wave mobile phone antennas in a browsing mode

Abstract

In this paper a simulation method for estimating the shadowing effect of a human at millimeter-wave frequencies is presented. The shadowing effect is studied at 28 GHz and at 60 GHz for the case when a user holds a mobile phone. Both single-hand grip and two-hand grip browsing scenarios are studied with a dual-polarized mobile phone antenna. We use the integral equation method combined with a surface-impedance-based material model for the human. It is found that at 28 GHz the human body causes shadowing of up to 22 dB behind torso and head of the human, while at 60 GHz shadowing is up to 30 dB. On the other hand, in some other directions the human body effectively increases radiation by up to 5-10 dB through scattering and reflection. The novel method using a detailed human shadowing model is useful in evaluating mm-wave mobile terminal antenna performance in realistic multipath propagation environments.